The Candle in the Dark - REWRITTEN
by XxJeweliaxX
Summary: Yoshiki and Ayumi have never been on the best of terms. But when stranded with no one but each other, it's found to be a need to be by each other's side. If not... who knows what will happen? From coal stained bodies to awkward moments, I welcome you to Heavenly Host Elementary School. This, my friends, is THE CANDLE IN THE DARK.
1. The Beginning of the End

**Author's Note: Each chapter will be precisely 1,000 words long, despite if it's in the middle of a sentence! I own not Corpse Party nor it's characters and themes...**

* * *

><p>The creaky floorboards beneath my feet give a small shake as a familiar yell is heard from the hallway. My teacher, slightly taller than me as I sit on a short desk, shifts her head around the room as though it came from it. Her eyes fill with anticipation as thoughts obviously cloud her mind. The tense silence is a bit too much to bear.<p>

"What… what was that, just now?", I start, and a girl my age, on the ground, speaks afterwards. Her small frame shivers and shakes, and she breathes like there's no air left.

"It was, it was a human's…", she begins, and a faint whisper can be heard echoing throughout the area, telling us, ha, ha, as though it is some practical joke. "It sounds like a human's cry", the girl finishes, her voice cracking slightly. My teacher looks over to her horror ridden student, and begins the usual pep talk.

"I think it might be because of the building's unsturdy architecture." I sigh, knowing it clearly was not in fact because of the architecture, and I wasn't the brightest fish in the sea. "But I'm still worried. I'll go take a look. Can you two wait for me here?", she adds on, noticing quite well at me and the girl's reactions. This obviously upset my classmate, who was now standing with a look of horror plastered on her face. She takes a few slow steps back, and begins calling out our names. "Shinozaki-san… Kishinuma-kun", she coos softly, and Shinozaki returns the favor, with tears in her eyes. "Shishido-sensei…", Ayumi says quietly, and I lift myself off the rusty desk and take the odd silence and understanding between the two women to reflect on what had happened.

The scream, of course, was from another fellow classmate. Naomi Nakashima, her name is. I had never been close with any of my peers, of course, but the ear-piercing scream made it seem as though someone died in front of her eyes, or even, she was dying herself, which would upset anyone. The screams now almost seemed routine, for we had only been here roughly ten minutes and we had heard two, which were both spaced out quite evenly. It all melted in with the odd environment we were in, which I assumed to be an elementary school. The dusted and out-dated elementary school itself wasn't what confused me most, though, it was the fact that we were able to reach it. Only a quick fifteen minutes ago, we had been back in our own updated Kisaragi Academy, us all cleaning up the annual cultural festival, and saying our goodbyes to a fellow 2-9 classmate. There was a predicted cause, of course, that I'd never say out loud. We had been introduced to a charm, known as the Sachiko Ever After charm, in which to bring us all together as friends, forever. We had ripped a paper doll after repeated a phrase (Sachiko, we beg of you) nine times for each person, and just as we had planned to leave, an earthquake hit. I didn't consider it coincidence, but I had no other clues as to what the hell was happening. As the floor tiles beneath our school shoes fell, we found ourselves landing in this run-down school. Luckily, I had been with Ayumi Shinozaki, as well as our teacher, Yui Shishido, when our bodies hit the dusty, wooden floor. I'm not quite sure how I'd react if I hadn't been here with these two, the only ones who truly gave me, even if only the slightest, a fighting chance in school.

I shake my head, not allowing myself to be absorbed in thought and the past, and focus my eyes on Shinozaki, who was now breathing heavily. Mrs. Shishido places a hand on both of our shoulders and forces us down to the floor kindly, patting Shinozaki's back as she coughed and sputtered. She mouthed the word 'hyperventilation' sneakily to me as her eyes went soft and pointed to her female student. "It's alright, Shinozaki… just stay calm", our teacher begins, as Ayumi covers her mouth as she begins another breathless coughing fit. Shishido continues to rub her back, and I hesitantly (and very awkwardly) grab her shoulder. She tenses up, and does more especially as Shishido stands up.

"Yui sensei! Let us come with!", she says, wiping her eyes and looking up at her teacher in anticipation. A sad sigh and a look to the floor is what she gets in return. The two seem to be contemplating. I use my hands to bring myself back to my feet, and turn to my teacher confidently. If I wasn't to stand up now, I'd never be able to.

"I can take care of her, sensei", I say boldly, and watch as her frown turns into a slightly happier smile. Shinozaki, however, only looks more upset as she wails, "Sensei…!" Mrs. Shishido pats her skirt pockets lightly, pulling out a small gemstone necklace, and encases it within her student's hand.

"I will be back in a jiffy. You stay here and recover, alright?", she says, and my classmate sniffles and nods, mumbling about the precious gem. "Be careful", I say strictly, and my teacher turns to wave and smile, before leaving us two alone in the darkened classroom.

Shinozaki stares at me oddly, almost with grief, as silence refills the room. Her fists are balled up by her neck like a child awaiting a Christmas present, but they shake in fear. Soon, though, I realize it wasn't only her shaking, but rather, the whole room. I grab onto her shoulders and push both of us down, using my back as a shield of sorts, and listen to the cracking sounds outside of the room. I feel the ground underneath us getting unsturdy, and I manage to push both her and myself out of the way before it collapsed. With my arm still around her, I say, "It's over", as...


	2. Search for Sensei

**Author's Note:** I've noticed that a few of you are a bit confused as to why I stop it at 1,000 words exactly. This, my friends, it because a) I'm very bad at ending chapters, so this makes it easier, and b) suspense reasons. I can't force it to keep going if someone is in danger, despite if I'd like to. It's a basic guideline to help me continue writing, you know? Anyway, I promise it will be updated frequently, so don't worry about waiting! Feel free to yell at me is it's been 3 days since an update. Anyway, enjoy, and sorry it's not very action packed so far!

**Special Thanks to YAY (Guest) and 00Garrett07 for reviewing! I really do appreciate it ^_^**

* * *

><p>...the shaking in the room had stopped. Shinozaki, however, still remained uncalm and had a rather dark look on her face. "Are you… alright?", I ask as I help her up, letting go of her. "Shishido-sensei…", she says quietly, walking almost robotically towards the door. I take hesitant steps towards her, hearing the familiar <em>ha<em>'s once again, and notice the blank stare she's giving to me. "We must go to sensei." I shake my head towards her, stepping to the direct side of Shinozaki, and grab her wrists in my hand, though once I do she scrunches them close together. "She'll be back in only a few minutes, and we're supposed to stay here", I say simply, and she shakes her head and whines as though she's a child. "We have to go!", she says, tears brimming slightly in her eyes. I rub my face off, for quite a bit of tears and spit were covering it. "Understood…", I start, and a smile starts to come towards her face. "She is taking a bit too long… I suppose we can look, but if you start feeling unwell, we're heading back", I finish, and a wide grin appears on her face as she nods and pulls out a pen. "We need… we need to write a note in case she comes here", she says, wiping her eyes with her sleeves (she pulled her arms away). I grab the pen and walk towards the teacher's podium, scribbling on a note quickly.  
><em>Shishido-sensei:<em>

_We've gone out looking for you. If we missed each other, stay here; we'll be back soon. _

_Kishinuma & Shinozaki_

"All right, it's done." Shinozaki grunts slightly and looks at me disapprovingly. "What?", I ask, and she simply shakes her head. Her facial expression had changed since her insistence. Looking back on it, it was an almost demonic look in her eye, but now, it had formed into an anticipated and kind look. "It's a bit blunt. Sloppily written", she says teasingly, and I roll my eyes, taking steps towards the door with her following. "If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't _have _to write a note in the first place." Ayumi simply shrugs, following close behind as I shut the classroom door and head into the hallway.

Outside is no better than where we originally came. The wood was torn at certain areas as though hit with a hammer (I assumed this was an effect of the earthquake), the windows were rusted and tinted so you could only just make out the brewing storm outside, and red streaked were painted across the wall and the floorboards. Letters and paper scraps litter the walls, some basic, school type letters, like "No running in the halls". Others were notes before what I could only assume to be death. Each time Shinozaki would shiver and look away, nodding towards the hallway. I still stopped each time to read the notes, though, despite her nudging. As we finally reached the darkened hallway, we could see it was a staircase, looking even worse then the classroom and hallway. Ayumi, surprisingly, took hold of the hem of my jacket as we both climbed up, our footsteps echoing. It wasn't a very long climb until our pathway was blocked by some odd, gravity defying chairs leaning downwards on the stairs. I climb up until I can reach no further and tug on the leg of the chair, leaving Ayumi with nails ready to be bitten. As much as I pulled, I only found myself exhausted and panting, and no progress was made. I let go of the chair, in which I was tugging on rather hardly this time, and fall backwards, falling completely down the stairs. Ayumi gasps, calling the familiar "Kishinuma-kun!" (Nice, considering we had mostly talked through walking and little noises of surprise) and grabs my arms in an attempt to stop me, only to become a participant in the falling. I wrap my hands around her head as to make sure no harm came to it, and a few seconds later, we were laying on the ground in a rather… embarrassing position. She, being the girl she is, stays for a moment before pushing me off of her and huffing. I stand myself up, blushing and rubbing the back of my head, and point towards the nearby classroom labeled 2-A. "Mrs. Yui is obviously not up there…", I begin, coughing slightly. She nods, her face flustered, and we both walk in awkward silence to the schoolroom.

Opening the door reveals a darkened room, with a cool echo of wind and that odd electronic buzz noise you hear in silence. Ayumi once again perches her fingers onto my jacket, and we both walk cautiously forward. Just as we reach the chalkboard, she shrieks in pure terror. I turn my head, and find myself cursing in surprise. We're both on the ground now, shuffling backwards. Limply in a chair in front of our eyes is the skeletal and rather bloody remains of what seems to be a high school student. Maggots and flies surround it. Shinozaki lets out yet another yell, and once again begins hyperventilating. Idiotically, I say, "Well, maybe it's not real…", and she just looks at me strangely. I, of course, am a bit too scared to come any closer, so I bring myself back onto my feet once again and use her hand to help her up. A trickle of a breeze wishes past our ears, bringing the scent of dead flesh with it. Ayumi begins to dig in her skirt pocket and pulls out one of her usual occult candles, and looks at me expectantly. "I'd assume you have a match?", she says, and I sigh sadly. I used to have a relatively dubious reputation, and though I've cleaned my ways since the "incident", I'm still expected to mess it up again. I dig into my pocket and hand her a match box, and she scowls. On her face though...


	3. Tips & Tricks

**A/N: For some reason, this chapter seems shorter than the rest. The action is raised up a teensy bit more, but it gets really intense next chapter. Sorry for the last minute upload guys! Enjoy~**

... is a smile. "Purely for emergency reasons", I say rather quickly, and she let's out a chuckle as she scrapes a lone match on the side of the box, lighting the candle. We both steps towards a pinned up newspaper article, using the candle to light the blots of old ink. I read out loud to myself, but just loud enough for us both to hear:

**Heavenly Post, October 1971**

Ara Kanshina - Serial Kidnapping Leads to Murder

The search for the four new victims of the recent serial kidnappings has come to an end. Last Saturday, as the police department was on it's final day of investigation, the four most recently kidnapped elementary students were found bound in none other than the school's basement. Yuki Kanno, Ryou Yoshizawa, Tokiko Tsuji, and Sachiko Shinozaki were found with bound hands and feet, three of them liberally covered in blood and dead. The murder weapon, a pair of sewing scissors, were found in the hand of none ot-

The page beyond this point is indecipherable (as it was ripped), so I take a deep breath. Ayumi pauses for a moment, her face blank, as we both listen to what sounds like an echo. I recognize it after a few seconds, it's the _ha_'s making themselves known, but it almost sounds like… a child… Could that be…? I wonder, but Ayumi's sudden movement jerks me out of my thought. She bends down and places the candle on the ground, melting the bottom of it with another match, and places the wet wax onto the ground. Her knees reach up to her chin, and she pats the ground next to her and smiles. I sit obediently and notice the room temperature had changed dramatically. It almost seemed romantic, really, with Ayumi curled up next to me in a candlelit room, and honestly, I enjoyed it quite a bit. "Gives off a bit of heat, huh.", I say, and she nods. "I was thinking... everyone knows my candles in the school, right?", she says, and I chuckle a bit. "You're called the occult-rep for a reason", I continue, and she nods, her face flustered. "If we place these around, they'll know we're here. Just… in case we don't run into them", she continues rather quickly, pulling a few more of the wax candles from her skirt pocket. I give her a confused look, but she simply shrugs it off. I use my palms to bring my back to my feet and once again help her up, and wrap my hand around the doorknob. I give it a good turn, but it doesn't seem to budge. In fact, upon closer inspection, it seemed a bit like the windows; nothing but a prop on the wall. I turn on my heel and head for the other door (keeping quiet to hear the pit-pat of her footsteps as to not look back at the corpse), and find it easily opened. Outside the door, Ayumi decides to once again leave a candle by the doorway, and with that, we decide to head downwards rather than upwards this time.

As we walk back down towards the way of 1-A, my mind began to run so quickly that, in fact, I couldn't think at all. It was odd having the class representative to be quiet; she was a rather outgoing girl who spoke her mind. She _never_ truly got scared either, but now her face was white with terror and her mouth was sealed shut. I creak open the door for 1-A and find that there was no trace of anyone being there, though the desk looked oddly more… scribbly. I nod at Shinozaki, and we both continue towards the desk. A bit beneath my own note is another scribbling of a message, almost in such a way that it seemed like Satoshi's…

_Glad to know you two are here. We'll be sure to keep an eye out for Mrs. Yui._

_Satoshi & Yuka_

I see the light partially return to her face as she reads the note, but in my mind, though I was happy, I couldn't help but wonder _how _they were here. If they had been able to write the note, they would've had to come to this classroom. How had we not seen or heard them? I sigh and run a hand through my hair, while Ayumi tries and push me towards the door. "Hey, hey… could you settle down? What's with the pushiness?", I ask, and she just smiles at me. "We've got to find Mochida-kun!", she says simply, and I step away from her grasp. She loses her footing momentarily, but we manage to leave the room in better spirits than we originally had.

The walks down the hallway almost seem pointless by now. It wasn't that the creepiness factor of it had changed, trust me, more little red stains could be seen everywhere since we saw that corpse, but after walking for what felt like an hour, my eyes had adjusted. More scraps of paper were posted up to the walls, which were seemingly put up by victims, not from before… whatever happened. One particular one pokes at my mind as we come towards _something _(Thank the heavens), also known as a staircase. The paper seemed as though it was cut square by a kindergartner, with slanted lines as sides and little slices cut through towards the middle. "For my mommy", it said, messily written in purple crayon. Three children were drawn on the paper. The first was a girl, around a 5th grader's age, with light brown hair pulled back into pigtails with bangs, wearing a yellow flower sweater and an orange skirt. There was no expression, as there was no face drawn, except for a pair of blue eyes. Next to her was a younger boy, seemingly no older than a 3rd grader ,with a rather messy shade of brown for a color of his hair, wearing a blue sweater as well as...


	4. Up Close & Personal

**A/N: I've got nothing much to say about this, but... sorry for the random spurts of action, then detail. It feels like they didn't accomplish much. Huh. **

...the average tan khaki shorts. His eyes were glistening a nice shade of grey. The youngest of them all was a young girl, a 1st grader maybe, with a pink long sleeve shirt and a red jean dress, her dark brown hair short with a butterfly clip in it. Her eyes were a wonderful shade of green. Though the children were drawn in crayon, their features were undeniably those of what would seem to be an everyday kid. I can hear a cackle from up the stairs, and after turning my head to the direction of the sound, the photo disappears off the wall. Ayumi mutters something I can't hear, so we both continue up the stairs.

Luckily, this stairway isn't blocked as the other one was. In fact it's in much better shape, with less gaping holes and even a bit of outdoor lighting from the windows. We climb to the top easily, and after scanning the hallway she falls to her knees in a sob. "They're coming", she says squeakily, and I whisk around behind me and find myself face to face with a young child. He reminds me of the one drawn, the boy, but he's outlined in blue with red patches beneath his mouth and on his abdomen. "Geh it bahhhh", he croaks, and I hear Ayumi squeal not too far behind me. He places his small palms on my shoulders and I'm suddenly sinking towards the ground. Seeing her shaking in fear, almost reachable if I used my fingertips. I felt bad for her, really. It must be a site. I turn back to the boy and stare directly into his eyes, and he repeats the phrase. I was terrifyingly calm, so scared I didn't know what to feel, and as the boy raised his fist to hit me, he vanished. She runs up towards me and hugs me, tears coming down her eyes, once again mumbling something beneath her choking. I pat her back awkwardly and stand us up. "He… should've killed you…", Ayumi says quietly, gripping onto my arm rather than the jacket this time. I nod as though I knew that as well, and we both continue forward. Papers are once again scattered about, but most are repeated versions of the information we read from the other article, or notes saying either "don't give up" or "die". _Wonderful_. We eventually reach a door that reads 'Infirmary', and I consider us to be lucky and open it. Inside, for a flash of a second, we can see the two girls from the drawing, but they both dissipate as the boy did the instant we focused our eyes on them. Ayumi almost immediately plops down on the bed and sighs, holding her head in pain. I look sadly towards her and search the nearby cabinets. Most of the medicine is outdated or soaked in blood, but I remember something. I pull out two purple tablets from my pocket and hand them to her. She looks at me, puzzled. "I had some pretty bad headaches myself this morning, and brought these to school", I said softly and enclose them in her hand. She nods at me and luckily puts them in her mouth before lying down in the corner of the bed. No other supplies are in the room, except a super-glued journal and a not working lamp, so I take a pocket from her sleeping body and light it on the floor next to the bed. I myself climb in (not facing the same way as her, obviously) and stare at the ceiling. Eventually, my eyelids become heavy and I'm out.

I'm woken up from my peaceful slumber by someone shaking my head back and forth. I open my eyes and realize it's Ayumi, who luckily looked better, and prop myself up. "Morning to you too, Shinozaki", I say, and realize just how irritated she looked. Most likely and hopefully, not from pain. "I can't believe you let us sleep. And in the same bed at that", she huffs, and crosses her arms in front of her chest. I chuckle and rub the back of my neck, and I almost see her smile, before we both go serious again. I climb out of the bed and offer my hand to help her up as well, but she shakes her head and whines. "Please", she says quietly, and it goes on like that for a few minutes (I actually enjoyed it a bit) before forcefully yanking her off the bed. She squeals and tears brim up in her eyes, and she's pressing her legs together really tight. I notice on the bed that there's a blood stain, and immediately spit out the most idiotic words of the century: "Did you have your period or something?" She slapped me and started to whine again, obviously not realizing that I did not care. I sigh and leave her to her complaining, researching the cabinets but finding nothing. "Skirt wet?", I ask awkwardly, and she nods slowly. I take of my jacket and hand it towards her and I begin to head out the door when she stops me. "If you mention it again, I'll kill you.", but in the midst of it I did hear a thank you. During our night's rest, there must've been another earthquake. Boards were broken, and confusedly, a few new were replaced. We step cautiously just in case, until Ayumi pipes up. Maybe we should see if there are any updates from Mochida on the desk", she says and smiles. It sorta pi- sorry, irritated me, that she was so interested in him, but I decide to let it slide. "Sounds good", I say and nod, and we both head back down the stairs. I note she's less clingy 'today'. Or whatever it was right now.

We eventually arrive at the classroom, with the help of a few jumps over gaps in the flooring. The desk is a bit more covered than...


	5. Dead Boy Walking

**A/N: Scatter. Scatter. Oddly written. I know. I attempted to rewrite, but... I had already written the next two chapters (MUCH better quality. I got back in my writing groove that I had the first few, plus some emotion and action~!) so I hadn't. Anyway, just PM me if you don't get what happened. I'll explain ;) Anyway, special thank you to ****AngryBirds379 and CinnaraSaras for reviewing on, well, pretty much every chapter. Anywho, enjoy the next one~! Expect quick updates. **

..it was _earlier, _so I took that as good news. Ayumi did as well, and practically ran towards it with my jacket (which was tied around her waist) flapping in the wind. She traced her finger underneath the letters as she read, "Morishige is fine, but suspicious. Heading towards corridor to next building, signed by Mochida and sis…", she starts, and surprisingly has more to read. "Gone out looking for you two and the others. Don't go further than Infirmary on 2nd floor, Miss Shishido", she said in a voice I couldn't decipher. "And… I can see you… not signed", and that ends the talking. We silently tell each other that we're alone and stay in silence for a few minutes, until we hear a childish cackle from the other side of the room. I curse. "Can we ever get a break?", I say, and suddenly the lights flickered off and I notice the blue outlining again. It's the little boy again, giggling and seemingly coming closer. Ayumi wraps her arms around my waist and snuggles closer, and I put mine around her and come closer towards the child. "Ryou?", I ask, remembering the original article I had read. The spirit stopped and looked at me confusedly. It was the same one from before, though he had less bloodstains this time around. His face was a bit more natural and his movement were less ghostlike. "Bahk?", he says quietly, pointing towards his mouth. I notice his tongue is severed and no where to be seen in his mouth, and I gag at the thought of someone cutting it from this poor boy. "Do you… want your tongue?", I ask, and the boy nods. I feel Shinozaki rub her face into my side a bit more, almost like a cat. I blush a bit, but continue listening. "Cohm", he continues, motioning his hands towards the doorway and taking small pit pits of steps towards it. We both follow, scrunched together like sardines, until we've reached the staircase to nothingness. He points up the stairs, and once again, we follow 'til he dramatically stops. He stomps his small feet on a certain floorboard, says, "Fihd iht" and begins to sob. Ayumi slowly (and sadly) lets go of me and presses her hand against the floorboard, revealing a bloody bag with "Ryou Yoshizawa - 3rd Year - No. 2" printed on it.

The boy, or rather, Ryou, held out his hands expectantly, and after handing it to him, he begun to spazm. His blue aura began to leave him, and all me and Shinozaki could do is watch in awe. The boy, now cleansed of his bloodstains and lack of tongue, collapsed onto the ground. I managed to sputter out some words, "That escalated quickly…", and she nodded. Ryou rubbed his eyes and looked at us full of energy, smiling and grabbing my hand. "Thank you!", he said, beginning to twinkle his eyes. He no longer has much strength, and almost seems… normal. As I'd expect a boy to be like. I turn over to Shinozaki and notice her sprawled onto the floor. Most likely fainted from confusion. I sigh. "Would you know where our friends are?", I ask cautiously, not knowing whether or not to trust him. Some notes previously had informed me that these children had killed them, but… Ryou nods and smiles once again. "1-A", he says, as I lift Shinozaki onto my back. He refused to let go of my hand. My mind was still in the midst of processing all that had happened (Could things really even go that quickly from point a to b?), but I managed to heap everyone downstairs to room 1-A.

The room seemed relatively warm compared to the last time I had been there, and the desk looked… cleaner. I rush towards it, and see that in fact, all signs of my friends ever being there was gone. Underneath the desk, however, was a hemp of guts and blood. I turn over and expect to see Ryou become his old, killer self, but instead he's quivering in fear. I duck down the best I can with Shinozaki on my back and notice a small pink pigtail and brown hair in the mix, and I cover my mouth. Suzumoto was here, alright. _Was_. I sigh sadly and head upstairs towards the infirmary.

The walk there was rather uneventful. Ayumi has begun to steady her breathing, and she shuffled a bit and moaned as I set her on the bed. Me and Ryou sit side by side on the other, facing each other. He's one of those happy kids, always smiling and laughing and in need of play time, and I almost mistaken him as so, before remembering they had found him dead. "Name?", he asks, and I notice he must have some sort of speech disorder. "Yoshiki Kishinuma. That's Ayumi Shinozaki", I say annoyedly. "Onii-chan", he coos, and I roll my eyes. I had always enjoyed having a younger sibling, but some things were a bit more important. He pouted, and Ayumi began to rub her eyes. "Kishinuma-kun…?", she asked sleepily, before noticing Ryou and freaking out. I shushed her, and Ryou scooted towards her. "A...yumi?", he tries out. She looks at me, petrified, and I only shrug in response. "I couldn't leave him. He's… normal…?", I say, and I see her loosen up a bit. I hated the fact that we had gotten off our goal: finding everyone. He had lightened the mood, but so far all he had done besides from that is freak out Shinozaki, and confuse the hell out of me. "We continue as we did earlier", I say. "We either find the second wing entrance, search for Yui, or find out what happened to Su…", I start, but suddenly stop. She didn't know, and her state was fragile. Was it worth it? She nods, though, and says, "Second wing entrance it is. We can write another note here,


	6. Peers

**A/N: To be perfectly honest, the only reason I uploaded this early was because I couldn't wait much longer to do so! I hate being ahead. HATE. So, I shall start uploading each chapter 4 hours after it's written, with a minimum of an hour gap between each chapter if uploading multiple. Make sense? Hope so! Apologies for the terrible previous chapter, but I've got back in the groove! Enjoy~**

since Yui-sensei will be most likely looking for us here", and with that, we wrote down a note in the journal. Unlike before, it was done in an eery silence. Just as we both were to leave silently, as we always did, though, Ryou begun to follow and looked up to me. His arms were crossed and he was tapping his foot. "No second wing. No friends or sensei", he says simply, and almost looked… pleased with himself. The air in the room became cool. "Just us", he continued, climbing the bed and letting himself onto my back. I sigh in grief. "What do you mean…?", Ayumi asks kindly, as she always seems to do. "Like pieces of puzzle. Different blocks make up school, but two blocks aren't same. Not same people. Just us three in this piece. Space", he says, and Ayumi looks at him upsettingly. "That can't be… they wrote the note", she says. Ryou kicks me with his tennis shoes as though I'm a horse. "Some pieces of puzzle are similar", he continues, obviously a bit annoyed. The feeling was mutual. "Desk is the same, I'm the same, Toki and Yuki and Sacchan the same. 'Cept I am all good now", he finished, patting his stomach and once again, begins to ride me like a horse. I shoot a glance at Shinozaki, and she gives me the 'might as well, not much as we can do' look.

We step out into the now darkened hallway. The beam-lights above were flickering and worn with age, which went along with the general look of the school. It almost felt different, though, doing so with a previously murderous and dead child on my back. He reminded me of Miki, if anything, but she was much more tolerable and would at least take this seriously. And so we wander down the maze-like hallways in search of this 'second wing'. "Not there", Ryou says, shaking his head in annoyance. We all trot down the staircase, him gripping onto me tighter. Ayumi sighs and rescans the first floor without moving. "He might be right, Kishinuma… we've already searched this place a few times now", she says, and enters room 1-A before I can tell her otherwise. I'm not sure if she remembers about the currently blank desk, or Mayu beneath it, but of course it was within her rights to know. I peek in through the doorway and watch as her fingers trace what used to be words on the desk. She looked surprised, of course, but even more so that I was quiet. "Why is it…?", she began, and stepping backwards she accidentally pressed her foot onto 'Mayu'. Then came the squealing. I hadn't been smart enough at the time to remove the hair tie, meaning she knew _exactly _who was under the desk. Ryou climbed off my back and after a few quick steps, smiled up at her gravely. She was too in shock from the site to even notice the two, no, three other female child spirits laughing behind her. Her wailing and calling of Suzumoto was ear piercing, almost making the world of sound a blur. By the time we all came to our senses, all but Ryou was on the ground. The girls (two of which were in the drawing, surprise surprise) come a bit closer towards us, and that's when I heard the snapping of the scissors. One of the girls, in which was _not _in the drawing, black haired and red dressed, was cautiously and liberally snipping a bloodied pair of sewing scissors towards us. She could even be mistaken for upset, just by the look in her eye. And soon she was a mere foot away from Shinozaki's head with them, and I could hear her croak my name. The boy, however, was being pursued by his, or what used to be, his own kind. I assumed the girls to also be victims of the serial kidnapping and murder, Sachiko, Yuki, and Tokiko. And of course, just as I was to make a rash decision to help Ayumi, the ghosts once again disappeared, but another crash could be heard from the doorway.

We were all tired out, panting and gasping for air. Just before we could truly say anything, though, a student around our age (Not Ryou's, of course) appeared and entered the classroom. Sadly, she wasn't in the Kisaragi uniform, nor anyone _I _recognized. Her hair was the color of Shinozaki's, and was pulled back by a star shaped pin. The uniform was a deep violet jacket and red tie, along with a smooth dark denim colored skirt. Her eyes were of a dead fish. "That's twice now", the girl said, scoffing. I huddled up towards those two on the ground and looked up at her once again. "You don't just stand still, or even _help _when spirits are around, idiots", she continued, looking first as me and Shinozaki, then Ryou. Then a scowl. "And who may you be to criti-?", I begin to ask firmly, though my voice was still rather raspy. Ayumi nudged me to shut me up. "Would you, perhaps, be Naho-sama?", she asked, standing up with a look of anticipation in her eyes. The girl gave a fake smile. "I would be. And are you, perhaps, more people fooled by the internet?", she asked, leaving us confused. I grabbed Ryou's hand and pulled him up, placing my hand on his head. "And what should that mean, exactly?", I say, but Naho only smiled back at me and said, "Never mind that." Ayumi was practically jumping with eagerness. "Did you get rid of them? The spirits?", she asked, and the girl nodded. "Look… we're looking for our friends, and…", and that's where she was stopped. "Let me get this straight. Based on my observations of you two, you found a child spirit, _listened _to him, appeased him, kept him _with _you, and then didn't even bother to listen to what he


	7. The Outcome

**A/N: Jeez! Three uploads today, huh? This is all I got for today, tomorrow ****_might _****have a little less chapters (I mean, but you guys are used to daily uploads. Today was insanity xD) Thank you to sparklydam200 for reviewing~ Enjoy!**

...says?", she says, staring daggers over at Ryou, who was slightly red at the cheeks. She mutters something to herself, and then steps forward. "There is no second floor. There are no friends, except the one under the desk and your teacher that's most likely lost and most likely dead", Naho says simply. "And how would you know that? If we're the only ones here, then why are _you _here?", Ayumi retorts, getting closer towards her face. "I'm a spirit who died here", she began, and pushed her away slightly. "And that… child already told you that. I'm simply rephrasing in an attempt to get it through that thick skull of yours." I simply stay quiet and kneel down towards Ryou in a whisper, not wanting to bother with their girl fights. "Is all that true?", I ask, and he nods. I give a loud sigh, and continue listening to what they're saying. "Is there really any problem in bringing a harmless child with us?", Ayumi asks, obviously now more flustered than she originally was. "There is if it was a child spirit, in which not only murders people but forms this dreadful school", she barks back, tapping her foot in an impatient manner. Ayumi is then the one to stare at Ryou, and slowly creeps up towards him. "You mean… that _he's _the reason we're here in the first place?", she says angrily, grabbing his shoulders rather violently. He starts to cry. "Not my fault! Not my fault!", he says, and I can hear Naho cackling in the background. "Look, what's your point bothering us, lady?", I ask, and she does her usual scoff. "To give this to you imbeciles. Seems like you could use some help with those other ghost kid", she says, tossing a amethyst-looking crystal towards me. I catch it as though it's a flaming coal. She then disappears, despite Ayumi's attempts to make her stay. She falls to the ground in sobs. Ryou comes up behind her and pats her back in an attempt to comfort her. "I'm sorry. No more", he says, sticking out his pinkie finger. She sniffs and looks at him accusingly, batting away his finger. "You tell us how we go to different spaces, got it? That's the _only _reason we're keeping you here." Ryou nods slowly and hides behind my arm. I sigh, putting the amethyst in my pocket. "The other ones… need to be like me.", he says, tugging at my jacket. We all leave the room and practically corner him into the wall. "Appeased?", Ayumi asks strictly. "Eye and tongues", he says, pointing towards each body part as he did so. Her face drifted, almost as though she was smelling something dreadful. Her head drooped down and she began crying again, and I couldn't resist the urge to comfort her. "We can't find Mochida-kun…", she cooed. "They'll all end up like Mayu", she continued, and she even allowed Ryou to pat her head. I had a strange surge of emotions then, her constant whining of Mochida and crying… but it was hard to be mad at her. Almost as if planned out, she went on. "I wish Mochida was here…", she said, blowing her nose into my jacket. "Well, he's not", I say, a bit annoyed. Ryou giggled a bit and scooted backwards as Ayumi swatted him away. "I'm here, Shinozaki", I say rather meanly. She starts to cry a bit again, and as I stand up she almost falls to the floor. I grab her hand and help her up, deciding on a 'punishment' (Funny how she needs one and Ryou doesn't) She thanks me, but I say nothing and grab Ryou's hand. As we decide to head back to the Infirmary, I notice the drawing on the staircase is changed. Ryou is no longer drawn and is erased, leaving him a colored blur. I feel him shiver a bit.

We decide to take another rest in the Infirmary this time around, as a lot has happened since our last stop. Ayumi once again takes the wall side of the bed, and my and Ryou squeeze into the other one. The candle I had placed was out, so I relit it. He snuggled into me and slept like a baby (Ha), but I could still hear Shinozaki mumblings and randomly sighing. It had been around an hour, at least, that I could tell. I still had yet to say a word to her. "Kishinuma, pleaasssseee", she said, finally turning to her side and acknowledging me being awake. I shake my head and grin deviously at her. She swats her head back away from me. "I still want Mochida here… he wouldn't ignore me…", I hear her whisper, and I ball up my fists. "He wouldn't make me go by evil little spirits or deal with little boys… or be rude about bodily functions…", she continued dreamily, and thats when I sat up on my bed. "Could you, perhaps, _shut up_ about Satoshi?!", I say in a whisper scream. She looks at me innocently. "See. Right there, Mochida-kun wouldn't be mean to me." By then I can feel the anger in my face. Was she doing this on purpose? I covered Ryou's ears and turned back to her. "Your stupid 'Mochida-kun' isn't _here _right now. You know what he's doing? Searching for _Naomi_, Shinozaki! Naomi!", I yell, and I feel Ryou huddle up under me. Wonderful. I can see the tears forming in her eyes, but honestly I wasn't ready to step down just when I got the courage to step up. "I am here right now. But how about you go search for your 'Mochida-kun'. Who you can't see, Ayumi. Ever." She's sobbing by now, her knees scrunched up to her face, and I scoop up Ryou. "You won't have to deal with little boys or little spirits, or little old me. Have. Fun.", and it almost breaks me to say it. Something had come over me,


	8. Maybe Not

**A/N: Jeez. This chapter took me a ****_bit _****longer than I would've liked it. Not sure about the chapter name, though. Ugh. Anyway, enjoy this a-little-too-action-packed and sorta-emotional chapter!**

**P.S.: Holy poop! We have reached over 1,000 views! That is... wow. I find it hard to believe that 1,000 times, people have clicked upon this little story! Thank you!**

...and I had the feeling maybe this was for the best. Maybe. I toss the crystal over to her side of the bed and head out the door, not sure what to do with myself.

"Where we going?", Ryou asks tiredly, only just now waking up. I had been walking for around a half hour, looping back and forth from 1-A to the Infirmary in hopes of finding Shinozaki. Of course, it was hard to look in depth with a guilty conscious. "Still looking for her", I say, patting his small little head. He sighs and pulls out a small keychain from his pocket. "We could check the Lab", he says, handing me the keys proudly. "We're not supposed to go past the Infirmary, Ryou…" The little one shakes his head. "That's why we can't find her! She must have went past!", he says excitedly, hopping out of my arms. At the time we were at 3-A, so he bolted towards the stairs as quickly as he could. His fancy little school shoes made a clink-clank against the wood, making it easy to follow him. "C'mon!", I yell, and he giggles. Eventually we pass the Infirmary, and we're standing outside a door reading 'Science Lab'. The smell of the nearby corpse was excruciating, and underneath it you could hear a slight moan, then a choking sound. I flinch, looking towards Ryou who nodded slowly, and as though it was some sort of movie, I lifted the corpse, revealing… revealing… re… I place my hands on my head and drop towards my knees, lifting up the limp body of Shinozaki. I can almost hear Ryou's teeth chattering. "She…. she's fine, onii! Leave her be!", he yells, surprising me a bit. I still continue to lift her up, though, and she's cold and not breathing. "Just Yuki! Leave… leave her be!", he continues, now with tears brimming out of his eyes. Despite his protest, I take us all towards the Infirmary and lock the door once entered.

I set her down on the Infirmary bed and face towards Ryou, trying to whip up a fierce look. "Hey. Who's Yuki, and what's she doing with Shinozaki?", I say, and he shrinks up in the small desk chair, shaking his head. "No… Yuki's not doing anything. Yuki's a little okay now. Sacchan got Yuki to. It's Sacchan!", he says, his small fingers balled up in a fist. "What is this 'Sacchan' doing to her then?! Why is she practically dead, Ryou?!", I yell, and he buries his head in his knees. "Sacchan needed someone. She knows I'm okay, and… that's not good. She knows I'm with you guys. Sacchi knows everything", he continues, shivering. I take a few hesitant steps forward and lean down. "So… you're saying, that _this_", I point towards to Ayumi. "Is your fault?", I finish, sighing exhaustedly. He was crying now and wasn't making eye contact, though you could see him nod. "Fix it… I can fix it.", he says between hiccups, and he slowly hops off the chair. "She comes out to go to Science Lab. We gotta go there", Ryou coughs and cautiously takes hold of my arm. I grumble, but I couldn't help but feel, or know, that it _was _my fault. I take a few steps forward, getting a last glance at her (I had thought she was pretty when she slept, though when covered in blood from a corpse and… other things, Ayumi looked like a mess), before closing the door behind me and Ryou.

"Ane'll be fine", he said dully in almost a whisper. The articles on the wall were no longer there, as though they had been scrubbed off. It only takes a few minutes to reach the Science Lab, and when we do, Ryou pinches my arm and looks up at me. "We go in, Sacchan goes in the model. Don't look at it", he says pleadingly. I nod, take out the key in which he gave me, and unlock the door. It's matching the rest of the school nicely, with wood walls crumbling down, fake windows, shattered glass, but the science tables are a neat metallic black. "The right. Don't", he whispers, as though it's a secret that the world depends on. I look towards my left and notice all the faucets, covered either liberally with blood or being clogged by what looks like black hair. I choke a bit, and look towards my right in which to throw up, until I see I'm face to face with an autonomic model. Or, at least I hope it was a model. Half of it is a regular human, and the other is one without any skin, exposing literally, the muscles. It leans it head towards me, and I look towards Ryou, who had ran out of the room. I run away from the model's gaze, hiding under a science desk, though it's like he can sense me; he has his hands around mine in a matter of seconds. "P...lea…", I choke out, and notice a young and black haired girl cackling behind him. She, in fact, didn't look dead, but rather, alive and looking a bit younger than all the rest of the children. His hands clasped tighter around my neck, blocking my airway, until suddenly the girl behind me (I assume she's Sacchan) screams with her hands over her ears before the model stops moving and she disappears. I turn my head, panting heavily as I tear the hands off my neck, and notice Ayumi and Ryou staring at me. The little one holds out his hand and shows me the shattered crystal, before tossing the pieces onto the ground and running towards me. "'Shiki!", he yells, tears streaming down his face. Ayumi takes a few steps closer, her eyes watering slightly, but she's smiling. I wrap my arms around Ryou and mumble a thank you, before lifting him up and supporting him on my side. He was like a...


	9. Little Babies

**A/N: My goodness you guys, I'm so, so, so sorry about lack of uploads! Life's been hectic, in all honesty, and I've been having a hard time writing! Thank goodness though, I managed another 1,00 words c: Hope you enjoy, and apologies again! I'll get better at uploading I pinkie promise ;) **

...little baby, and finally I saw the resemblance between him and Miki. I smile and head towards Shinozaki, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry, Kishinuma-kun… ", she wailed, tears slowly treading down her face, before she rests her head into my chest. I awkwardly pat her back, blushing furiously, and give a little smile. "Didn't mean to snap like that… I don't even really remember what happened…", I say, pulling her shoulders backwards and lean my head down to better see her. "What happened…?", I ask, and she shakes her head at me. Ryou shuffles and nuzzles his nose into my shoulder. "I… couldn't move… but I was still moving… and I was talking when it wasn't me… ", she sniffles. "I didn't want you to get hurt… but I was… stuck by that _thing_… ", she finishes, and re-adjusts my jacket around her waist. "No worries, Shinozaki. We're all fine. Now, I have a deal to make with you…" Ayumi nods, wiping her eyes and beaming up at me. "Under _no _circumstances will _any _of us separate", I start, but look towards Ryou. "And that includes him as well. We can't just leave him here… he's just an average kid. With information, of course", I crack a smile, and Ryou's cheeks turn red. "That's… what I was planning on doing anyways", Ayumi says, patting him on the head. " I think before we deal with any more things with little Ryou here, we should go and see where Miss Yui is. She started in this space with us, right?", she asks, and he sighs. "No more. How many times I need to tell you?", Ryou says annoyedly. She huffs, and we all head back towards 1-A.

"Where'd all the papers go?", Shinozaki points out as we enter the classroom. "They just vanished. Right after I had left", I claim, setting Ryou down onto the ground. He sighs in disappointment and hops onto the scribble-free desk. "So… we've only got him for information, unless we run into the others and get lucky?", she says, eyeing the board that had once been littered with newspaper clippings, classroom announcements, and exceptional drawings by the students. "I suppose so. There's no way we _can _run into them, though, like Naho and little man here said", I say, grabbing Ryou and ruffling his hair. "But maybe… maybe _she _knows how to go from space to space. How else would she know about them?", I continue, and Ayumi's face brightens up. "So, we just have to find her before anything else happens to them, correct?", she says, looking over towards the bottom of the desk. I sigh, mumbling an apology to Suzumoto. "Uh-huh. Unless _he _know's how…", I chuckle, and Ryou shrinks up a bit and shakes his head. I lean on the desk that he's on and shrug my shoulders. "The spirits… They come out when something they want is near, correct?", I say, looking towards him. He nods. "Sacchan wants victims. We want… ", he says, pointing to his tongue. "And other stuff we lost. Same for Naho." I tap my chin and, after thinking of nothing, sigh exhaustedly. "But, what could you guys wants, besides from body parts, that you can't get as spirits that, quite literally, can do _anything_?" Ryou shrugs his shoulders, and speaks up. "More of them are happy, that means less spaces! Already you got friends. I think" Ayumi, once idling silently in the corner, practically jumps on top of the kid in happiness. "The bathroom! I knew it! We have to go!", she's saying, smiling cheek to cheek. "Don't… know…!", he replies, and manages to pry her off. I chuckle, and taking both of their hands we head out towards the hallway, ready to do some searching

"Ryou~!", I coo out, a small girl running after me as I slide across the darkened hallways. They were blank as of right now, the only lighting coming from the storm outside. But I could see just fine. As I come to a sudden halt, Toki practically runs into the wall, and would have, if it were possible. She winces, chest moving up and down in short puffs of breath. "I think…" More huffs. "I saw him earlier…? With blondie?" I sigh heavily, sinking down to the ground. "Of _course _he's with him. I guess, though, that's what Sachi gets for picking such a youngster." After regaining her balance, Tokiko crosses her legs next to me, classic for a second grade, and nods. "But she's gonna be mad." She starts to twiddle with the barrette in her hair, glancing nervously around the hall like she was watching our every move. I rub my chin in though. "Well, _maybe _if we were to find someone new, she'd be okay with it? I mean, that little girl he saw earlier might be a good fit." I almost instantly see the corners of her lips curl into a smile. "Second building!", and in a whoosh, we were heading towards the next wing of the cursed school.

"Oniichan?", a voice next to my says softly, and the source tugs at my sleeve. With a smile I turn towards my not-so-young younger sibling, Yuka. "They're going to be around here, right? They're okay?" With a quick jerk of the hand I pat her head. "Of course. They'd never let anything happen to… each other." Yuka's small face brightens up in an instant. Around us pass the multiple rooms we've already searched; an abandoned infirmary, dusty classrooms, and a few close calls with some skeletals. As I take a sharp left, sister swinging behind me, we arrive at our destination: a classroom that may or may _not _be abandoned. On the desk was the same expected scribbles, not changing since our last response, and beneath it a rotten stench, all too familiar. Letting go of my arm, Yuka drifts off deeper into the room, observing the outside through a window only reachable by tip-toes. "Do you think


End file.
